Cowering in ranks, says state warrior

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Senior public servants are in danger of being cowed into silence, no longer offering frank and fearless advice to their political masters because of employment contracts that allow them to be sacked without reason, one of the state's most powerful mandarins has warned.

Speaking out publicly in a rare interview, on the eve of his retirement, Gerry Gleeson has warned that the independence of the highest echelons of the Australian public service is at stake.

Mr Gleeson, who has had a kidney removed in a battle with cancer, is stepping down as head of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and the Statutory and Other Offices Remuneration Tribunal. He told the Herald that not only are federal public servants stymied in their ability to speak freely but this was becoming a serious problem in NSW too.

Mr Gleeson, whose legendary and fearsome reputation was built on his tenure as head of the Premier's Department under Neville Wran between 1977 and 1988, said the pendulum of power inside government had swung too far towards political advisers, which "diminished" the quality of the public service.

"What distresses me today, particularly in the Commonwealth public service, is that public servants pay lip service to frank and fearless advice," he said. "The pendulum of change has swung too far in the contract system for the appointment of senior public servants, from the old extreme of permanency of senior people, where there was an inability to move them on, dismiss them, to the point where they can be removed in an instant without any justification.

"In those circumstances, it must be very difficult for senior officers to be completely frank. Some of them do it extremely well, others not so well, but it is a burden. Also, the power has moved to inside the offices of ministers and their staff.

"These people are dedicated and often very capable people but often I think they act, probably without the knowledge of their ministers, and it tends to diminish the role of the department."

Asked if he had raised specific concerns with the NSW Government about sackings, he said: "Yes, I have expressed some concerns about the number of SES [Senior Executive Service] officers whose positions have been terminated."

Mr Gleeson also questioned the management of the state's finances and the strategy of retiring debt at the expense of necessary capital maintenance. "'Debt' is not a dirty word," he said, describing the tenure of Michael Egan as Treasurer as "terrific" but criticising economic rationalism inside government, which had led to problems, particularly in public transport, where maintenance spending was sacrificed.

He also called for reform of the Independent Commission Against Corruption to prevent its primary function of corruption investigation being sidelined by Opposition attempts to "destroy reputations" and the Government's attempts to turn the organisation into an arm of executive government vested with corruption prevention and probity responsibilities.

Mr Gleeson also called for a halt to residential development along the CBD foreshores, conceding it had probably been "overdone" in areas like Pyrmont because of a combination of government and private development.

He warned about government experiments with public-private partnerships, commenting: "You have to be very cautious about entering social fields where there is no regular cash flow.

"I have no objections to toll roads at all, but I am very wary of merchant bankers."